The Legendary Crystal Kingom
by truearthurfan
Summary: Dora, Boots & Ben, now May wake up in the Crystal Kingdom, where the Greedy King is taking the 4 Magic Crystals from each of the 4 Kingdoms, taking the magic from everywhere.  May learns more about herself when Dora & Botos are captured. She must save the


Chapter Two

The Legendary Crystal Kingdom

I slowly opened my eyes. I was looking at grass.

I sat up, looking around.

I was lying in a field of flowers. They were the most beautiful flowers I'd ever seen. They were all of different colours. And they all sparkled, like gemstones.

'Where the hell am I, now?' I asked, frowning.

I noticed Dora and Boots, sprawled on the grass next to me.

I shook my head, reached over them, grabbed their shoulders and shook them.

'Hey, guys wake up,' I said, shaking them.

They stirred, sitting up and rubbing their eyes.

'Where are we?' Boots asked sleepily.

'I'm not sure,' I said, standing up and looking around. 'Maybe we fell into another... world.'

'May?' Dora said, looking at me.

'Whoa,' I said, staring off into the distance in awe.

Dora and Boots followed my gaze.

'Whoa,' they said, staring where I was staring in awe.

We were staring at a huge purple castle that stretched high into the sky.

Light from the sun glistened and sparkled like diamonds.

'I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life,' Dora said, staring in wonder.

'Me neither,' I said, shaking my head.

It was true. In the 19 ½ years that I'd lived, I'd never,_ never_ seen anything so beautiful.

'Wait a minute,' I said, logic catching up with my brain. 'We fell down through the ground. How the heck can there be a sun in the sky. And why can't I see where we fell from.'

I was looking up at the sky. And when I say "the sky" I mean, "the sky". There wasn't any sign that we'd fallen through a hole in the Earth and ended up here.

'Maybe we've fallen into another world,' Dora suggested. 'You fell into our world from yours.'

'Yeah, I guess,' I said, looking down and scratching the back of my neck.

'May's from another world?' Boots asked, looking confused. 'How did she fall into ours?'

'An accident-prone Fairy Godmother,' I said, folding my arms.

'Oh, okay,' Boots said, nodding.

I was surprised how fast Boots had accepted my answer.

Fairy Godmother must have been more accident-prone than I'd originally thought.

'Well, how are we going to get back to your world, Dora?' I asked, putting my hands on my hips and looking around.

'Maybe we can ask someone in that little village,' Dora said, pointing.

I looked where she was pointing.

I blinked.

There was a small, old fashion village not far from the castle. How hadn't I seen that before?

'Well, why not?' I said, shrugging. 'We've nothing better to do.'

We walked for half an hour. As we got close to the village the sound of The Wiggles singing Have A Very Merry Christmas came from my left-hand skirt pocket.

'My phone?' I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling it out. 'How did _it _get here?'

My phone had changed. It wasn't a black and silver NOKIA phone anymore. It was a simple blue, flip top phone.

'Is that your phone from _your_ world, May?' Dora asked, looking surprised.

'Yeah, I think so,' I said, flipping it open. 'But, like me, it must've changed when I entered your world.'

The caller ID said Dad.

'It's my dad,' I said, a little surprised. 'I wonder why he's calling my now.'

I pushed the "call" button and lifted the phone to my ear.

'Yeah, dad,' I said, forgetting that my voice had changed.

'Who is this?' Dad's voice asked, sounding confused.

'You won't believe me, but it's Ben,' I said, putting my right hand on my face.

'You're right,' Dad said, sounding annoyed. 'I don't believe it. Now put my son on, whoever you are.'

'We were planning on going on vacation to Japan next year, but had to post-pone it because of money, work at Phoenix and the Earthquake and Tsunami,' I said, feeling a little agitated.

I didn't want to have to explain exactly what had happened right now. It would take too long and I didn't know how much time there was in the first place.

'How did you know-?' Dad began, sounding confused.

'Dad, isn't me, you fucking fat idiot!' I yelled angrily.

Whoops. Calling my dad "fat" was taboo in my house.

'What did you just say?'

I frowned.

Dad sounded both angry _and _confused.

'Why do you sound confused?' I wondered out loud, forgetting that he could hear me.

'You just sounded like my oldest son,' Dad said, sounding unsure. 'Not your voice, but your tone.'

'That's because I _am_ your son!' I yelled in annoyance. 'Why can't you just understand that?'

'But, what happened to your voice?' Dad asked, sounding confused. 'You sound like a 5-year-old girl.'

'That's because a Fairy Godmother turned me into one so that my body wouldn't disintegrate when I fell into DORA The Explorer's world after she messed up her transportation spell,' I said without thinking.

'When the who did what, when, whom?' Dad asked, sounding even more confused.

I sighed.

'I'll explain later, Dad,' I said, shaking my head. 'Why did you call me?'

'Well, it's almost 8 o' clock and your not home, so Xavier called me, wondering if I'd heard anything,' Dad explained.

'Oh, man,' I said, putting my head in my hand again. 'We _were_ travelling through that forest for a couple of hours and I'd completely forgot about time in our world.'

'Forest?' Dad asked, sounding confused again.

'I'll explain later,' I said, sighing. 'Just don't call the police or anything, okay? If you call them, saying that your eldest son have somehow turned into a 5-year-old girl and fallen into another world, they'll think you're crazy.'

'Yeah, I know,' Dad said and I heard him nodding his head. 'I guess telling the police you've somehow fallen into a kid's TV show would sound like I was on drugs, wouldn't it?'

'Kinda,' I said, chuckling. Or rather, giggling. It was an odd feeling... almost pleasant. 'Well, Dad, I'd better go. Dora, Boots and I need to find a way back to her home.'

'You, who and who?' Dad said, disbelief in his voice.

'No, you're not hearing things, Dad,' I said, shaking my head. 'Tell the others I'll be back as soon as I can.'

'You'd just better make sure you get back before your mother gets back from New Zealand,' Dad said, firmly.

Oh, crap! I'd forgotten about Mum. How would Dad explain that I'd fallen into a cartoon world? She was going to go ballistic.

I pushed "end call" and put the phone back in my pocket.

'What is you Dad going to do if you can't get back?' Dora asked, looking anxiously at me.

'I honestly don't know, Dora,' I said, scratching my neck with my right hand, shaking my head. 'I just don't know.'

We headed off across the field of flowers. I kept getting distracted by how brightly they shone.

'If you are too distracted, why don't you wear sunglasses?' said a man's voice.

I stopped and looked around, frowning.

'What is it, May?' Dora asked, stopped and looking back at me.

'I could have sworn I just heard someone tell me to wear sunglasses,' I said, scratching my head in confusion. 'But you, Boots and I are the only ones around here. So, who was talking?'

'That would have been me,' the voice I'd heard before said.

The three of us looked down.

A gleaming red flower with small eyes and a mouth was looking up at us.

'Whoa,' I said, shaking my head. 'I forgot that in this world, anything's possible. Like talking flowers.'

'I'm not just any flower,' the flower said with a posh accent, folding the two leaves on its stem like arms. 'You have beautiful blue eyes, by the way, girl.'

'Huh?' I said, blinking.

Dora and Boots looked at me.

'Hey, he's right,' Dora said, smiling. 'Your blue eyes are quite beautiful.'

'My eyes are still blue?' I asked, looking at the two of them.

'Were they blue, back in your world?' Boots asked, cocking his head to his left.

'Well, yeah,' I said, scratching my face with one finger. 'I just thought that, when Fairy Godmother turned me from a boy into a girl, that my eyes had changed colour, like my hair.'

'Well, they're still blue,' Dora said, smiling. 'And they're very pretty.'

'Um, thanks,' I said, not sure how I should feel about that statement.

'So, are you three headed for the Crystal Palace?' the flower asked, looking up at us.

'Yes,' Dora said, nodding.

'Well, you won't get up there,' the flower said, shaking its head.

'Why not?' I asked, frowning.

'The King won't allow anyone to enter the palace without an invitation,' the flower said, looking up at me. 'Unless you have an invitation, you won't even get close to the castle. The village will be as close as you get.'

'Well, maybe someone in the village can help us,' Dora said, trying to stay positive.

'Not likely,' the flower said, shaking his head again. 'They've had to fend for themselves since the King became a greedy brute. He takes everything and anything he wants, regardless of how it effects the people in the village. They're lucky if they have a single piece of bread to eat for dinner at night.'

'How horrible,' Dora said, looking horrified. 'Why doesn't the King do something about it?'

'He cares only for himself,' the flower said, shaking his head again. 'He's even been taken from the forest people.'

'The forest people?' I asked, raising an eyebrow. Did that mean that we hadn't entered another world after all? Maybe we were still in Dora's world.

'That's how he got that crystal castle built,' the flower said, looking at the castle far off in the distance. 'He's been taken the mystical crystals from the Crystal Kingdom.'

'The Crystal Kingdom?' Dora said, looking stunned. 'You mean it really exists? I thought it was just a story book'

I frowned. The Crystal Kingdom? Hadn't that been the name of one of the latest DORA The Explorer movies, Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom? I think that was the name of the movie. Man, had I chosen a bad time to fall into Dora's world. Why couldn't I have fallen into one of the few episodes I'd seen? At least then I'd know what to expect. I didn't know anything about this story in the DORA The Explorer franchise. And Fairy Godmother clearly hadn't figured out how to send me back to the real world yet, so I was stuck here. Which meant I'd have to follow Dora through this adventure.

This wasn't going to be easy.

'Can it be?' a small voice said from behind me.

We all looked around.

A little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a pink dress, with purple butterfly wings was flying next to me, looking closely at me.

'Hey, personal space,' I said, backing away.

'Could you be them?' she said, flying away from me and looking at Dora.

'Look, we'd like to hang around and chat, butterfly-girl,' I said firmly, grabbing Dora's hand and pulling her along. 'But we're trying to get to Dora's house and we've waisted enough time. It's going to get dark soon, and I don't want to be outside at night.'

'Hey, May, wait,' Dora said as I pulled her along.

My patience was wearing thin. I just wanted to get to Dora's house, have a bath or shower, go to bed, fall asleep, wake up tomorrow and have Fairy Godmother turn me back to normal and send me back to the real world.

A few minutes later we were walking through the village.

It was eerily quiet. You couldn't even here the wind blowing.

The houses all looked like they were slowly rotting away.

'I don't like this,' Boots said nervously, cowering behind Dora.

'Me neither,' I said, looking around, frowning. 'It's too quiet.'

'Make way for the Royal Procession!' a loud voice yelled.

We all looked around to where we'd walked into the village.

A large, golden carriage, being pulled by three horses was speeding up the path.

'Royal Procession?' I said, frowning.

'What are you doing?' a woman's voice said.

We all looked to our left.

Standing in the doorway of the house next to us, was a woman with long, unkempt blue hair, wearing a brown dress.

She was looking very frantic.

'Quickly,' she said, moving a little so that there was space to move through the door.

Dora, Boots and I looked at each other, unsure.

'Hurry,' the woman said anxiously. 'You don't want to be caught wandering the streets during a Royal Procession.'

We didn't know what was going on, but I had a feeling it'd be better to ask questions inside.

We hurried inside and the woman closed the door behind us.

The room wasn't very big and it was filthy. There were strands of hay all over the floor, along with what I hoped wasn't bird poop. The one window at the far end of the room was covered in grime. Clearly, cleaning wasn't a normal luxury in this village.

A few seconds later we heard the sound of the carriage go noisily passed.

When the sound had faded away, Dora and I turned to the woman

'Thanks for the help,' Dora said, smiling.

'But, who are you?' I asked, looking at her. 'And why didn't we want to be caught wandering the streets.'

She blinked at us.

'Don't you know?' she asked, looking at us in surprise. 'If you're caught wandering the streets during a Royal Procession, you'll be thrown into the King's dungeons.'

'What?' I cried, horrified. That sounded like something from the Tudor times, back in the real world.

'Yes,' the woman said, nodding.

'Madam Melanie,' an exhausted voice said from the window.

We all turned around.

Someone was climbing through the window. It was the girl Dora, Boots and I had met early. But now, she was bruised and battered. Her butterfly wings were bent and broken. It looked as if someone had beaten the snot out of her.

'Lily,' the woman, who was obviously Melanie, since there wasn't anyone else in the room, said, hurrying over to the girl, helping her in and then helping her to stand.

She helped her over to a broken chair and helping her to sit down.

Dora, Boots and I walked over to her.

'Um, Lily, was it?' I asked, looking at her.

The girl looked up and nodded.

'We met before,' I said, indicating to myself, then Dora and Boots. 'Back in the flower fields?'

'Yes,' she said, nodding. 'I remember. You all left for this village after I met you.'

'What happened to you?' Dora asked, looking worried.

Lily looked like she'd really taken a fierce beating. She looked like she might pass out at any moment.

'I was trying to protect the 3rd Magic Crystal,' she said, looking sad. 'But the King's men managed to take it away.'

'Magic Crystal?' I asked, frowning.

In every story I'd read, every time a cruel king was looking for Magical objects, it didn't end well.

'They are the purified life energies of this world,' Melanie said, dabbing some of the bruises on Lily's face with a cloth. 'They keep the world in balance. But ever since the King decided that they should be his, disaster has befallen our lands.'

'Which Crystals has he taken?' Dora asked anxiously.

'There are 4 Crystals, in all,' Lily said firmly. 'He has already taken the Water and Sky Crystals.

'And now he has the Trees Crystal, as well,' Melanie said, shaking her head sadly.

'Which one is left?' I asked, frowning. This wasn't good. If those 4 Magic Crystals kept the world in balance, the King's taking them could spell disaster. And if he already had the Water, Trees and Sky Crystals that meant there was only 1 Crystal left.

The Sun Crystal.

Normally I'd say that that was alright, because, back in the real world, it was physically impossible to get near the sun without being pulled into it and burning up, before even getting close.

But in this cartoon world, anything was possible.

'We've got to stop the King from taking the final Crystal,' I said firmly. 'Taking the Sun Crystal couldn't lead to anything good.'

'It won't,' Lily said, shaking her head a little.

We looked at her.

'If the Sun Crystal is taken away,' she said firmly, 'then the sun will never rise again.'

'Oh, no,' Dora said, looking horrified. 'If the sun doesn't rise, then morning will never come.'

'And without sunlight,' I said, glaring down at the floor, 'all life with die.'

There was silence in the room.

'We won't let that happen,' Dora said firmly.

'Where is the Sun Crystal?' I asked Lily, standing firmly.

If I was going to be stuck in this world for a while, I wasn't going to let some selfish, self-absorbed King ruin it.

'It is in the Firefly Kingdom,' Lily said, looking firmly at us. 'But those not pure of heart aren't aloud in.'

Oh, boy. I couldn't really say whether or not I had a pure heart. I mean, when my uncle Peter and my great grandmother on my dad's side died, I hadn't felt a thing. I didn't think I was pure of heart. How could someone pure of heart not feel anything when someone in their family dies.

Lily looked from Dora, to Boots, to me.

'I sense pure hearts within all three of you,' she said, smiling.

I blinked. I hadn't expected that.

'But one of you still needs to fully connect with theirs,' she continued, looking at me.

I flinched. She could sense my doubt about having a pure heart.

Dora and Boots were looking at me too.

'May?' Dora asked, looking at me with concern.

'You are hiding a great secret,' Lily said, getting off the chair, walking up to me and holding her hand in front of me. 'This secret weighs heavily on your soul, though you do not admit it, even to yourself.'

'Can we just focus on the problem at hand?' I said, knocking her hand away and walking over to the window, looking out at the sky. 'So, how do we get to the Firefly Kingdom? I'm assuming it's close to the sun.'

'Yes,' Lily said, nodding. 'But to get there, you will need to fly.'

'Um, one problem,' I said, folding my arms and leaning against the windowsill. 'Neither Dora, Boots nor I can fly. We don't have wings.'

'That is something I can fix,' Lily said, smiling.

Lights sparkled and swirled around her. As we watched, her wounds and broken wings healed themselves. Then the sparkling swirls flew towards and surrounded Dora, Boots and I.

As we watched, butterfly wings appeared on our backs.

When the lights faded, I saw that the three of us had plan white butterfly wings sprouting from our backs.

I could feel where the wings attached to the middle of my back. It felt weird. Then again, being in a 5-year-old girl's body still felt pretty weird too.

'I sure hope I'll be able to hide these when I get back to my world,' I said, giving my new wings a few flaps.

'Why?' Lily asked, looking at me.

'Where I come from, if you've got wings, you're seen as a freak or monster,' I said, shaking my head. 'So, shall we get going? We need to get to Dora's house before tomorrow.'

'Then let us be off,' Lily said, running to the window, hopping out and flying off into the sky.

'Let's go,' Dora said, jumping out the window and flying off after Lily.

Boots made that noise he always made when he was happy, jumped out the window and flew of after Dora.

'Well,' I said, looking back at my wings. 'Here goes nothing.'

I climbed out the window, jumped and focused on flapping my wings.

Almost instantly I was in the sky, flying with ease.

'This is _so_ cool,' I said, grinning. How many people could say that they'd flown in the sky without using a machine?

I flapped my wings harder and caught up with the others.

'You're all naturals,' Lily said, looking back at us as we all flew through the sky.

'If someone had told me yesterday that I'd be flying in the skies, like a bird, I'd have told them they were crazy,' I said, looking all around me. This was just so cool.

Although people would say that I'm pretty crazy right now, considering I was in a cartoon world, I was a 5-year-old girl; I had white butterfly wings and was flying towards the sun to enter the Firefly Kingdom to find the Sun Crystal.

'Okay, we're about to reach the portal,' Lily said firmly, looking ahead of us. 'This can be a bit rough, so brace yourselves.'

Just then a huge purple hole appeared in the sky in front of us.

'Hold on!' Lily yelled as we flew into it.

We were travelling through a multi-coloured tunnel. I was having trouble staying airborne. There were strong air currents blowing against us. But the ones blowing against me were stronger than the ones pushing the others.

This must have been what Lily was talking about. Because I had doubts about whether my heart was pure, I was having the most trouble travelling through the gateway to the Firefly Kingdom.

After several minutes, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

'Over there,' Lily yelled, pointing. 'That's the exit we want. Make sure you don't get blow anywhere but into that light.'

'Why not?' I called, trying to keep my eyes open, knowing I wouldn't like the answer. 'What'll happen if we go anywhere else?'

'You'll fall into the void of emptiness,' Lily yelled back. 'There's nothing there back nothing.'

'I wish I hadn't asked,' I said, flapping my wings harder. 'That doesn't exactly help boast my confidence.'

'Get ready!' Lily yelled, as the light grew so bright that I had to squint my eyes. 'We're about to enter the Kingdom!'

The light grew even brighter, and the next thing I knew, we were flying over a brightly lit city, shining with pure white light.

'Wow,' I said, looking down at the glowing city. 'Just... wow.'

I could see the Firefly people flying around below us.

They looked like humans, with firefly wings. And while a few looked up and pointed at us, most of them just ignored us.

'This way,' Lily said, pointing to a giant castle, rising high into the sky. 'That's the Firefly King's castle. We'll need to talk to him if we want to put the Sun Crystal in a safer place.'

'Isn't it safe here?' Dora asked, looking confused. 'No one not pure of heart can get to this place. Didn't you say that?'

'That's what the people of my Kingdom thought,' Lily said, her face going dark. 'I told the King of the Butterfly Kingdom that we should've moved the Trees Crystal to a safer place, but he wouldn't listen. He thought, since our Kingdom was protected by the same spell as this Kingdom, we didn't need to worry. He was wrong.'

'Oh,' I said, feeling unsure what to say.

It was now clear why Lily wanted our help. She was doing this so that the people of the Firefly Kingdom wouldn't end up like the people of the Butterfly Kingdom.

We flew towards the castle. I'd need to watch what I said here. The most important person I'd ever met was the Governess of Australia and that was more than 9 years ago. And I wasn't a very formal person, so this wasn't going to be easy.

A few minutes later, the four of us were standing in the thrown room, looking up at the Firefly King and Queen.

The King was a tall man, with brown hair and blue eyes. The queen was tall as well, with orange hair, blue eyes and a kind face.

'You highness,' Lily said, kneeling to the King. 'I apologize for interrupting you daily schedule, but my friends and I bring you bad news.'

'Speak, child of the Butterfly people,' the King said, looking down at the four of us. 'Before the dimensional walls were seal, in the ancient times, our Kingdoms had been allies for many years and still are. There is no need for apologies. Why have you come, with these three who are not of your Kingdom, nor the others?'

He was referring to us.

'Dora, Boots,' I whispered, holding my hand over my mouth so the King didn't see.

'What is it, May?' Dora whispered back, looking at me.

'I think we should be kneeling too,' I whispered, nodding my head to Lily.

'Right,' the two of them said, nodding.

The three of us kneeled to the King.

He nodded.

I'd been right. Since we were outsiders, we needed to show respect while we were here. That wasn't going to be easy, since neither, Dora, Boots nor I had ever learned the way you were supposed to act around a member of a Royal family. I was just using the small things I'd learned, watching TV and I didn't know how long that was going to work.

'Great King of the Firefly people,' Lily said, looking up at the King. 'The Sky, Water and now, the Trees Crystal, have been stolen.'

'What?' the King said urgently, standing up. 'By whom?'

'The Greedy King,' Lily said with disgust. 'The one who has been taking the gemstones from the Magic Kingdoms to build his Crystal Castle.'

'Why is he now after the Magic Crystals?' the King asked, looking straight at Lily.

'Uh- well...' Lily said nervously.

'If you will permit me to, your highness,' I said, looking up at the King.

He turned to look at me.

'Though I myself don't know all that has happened,' I said firmly, trying to keep talking properly, hoping that I wouldn't slip up. 'I believe the Greedy King is taking the Magic Crystals, because, in his eyes, no one else deserves to have them.'

The King looked at me.

'I believe that, he believes _he_ is the only one that deserves to even look at the Crystals,' I continued, part of me yelling at me to just shut up. 'He cares nothing about anyone but himself. He sees no reason why everyone should enjoy the Crystals, as apposed to him having them all to himself.'

There was a silence as the King looked at me.

'_Oh, no,_' I thought anxiously. '_Did I go too far? Should I not have spoken in the first place?_'

Wait, why was I talking like someone from the 16th Century. Being around all these kingdom things was starting to effect the way I thought.

'You, child,' the King said, looking at me.

'Yes, your majesty?' I asked, looking up quickly, feeling nervous.

'You speak with words beyond your years,' he said, walking down, frowning at me.

'I- is that a bad thing? Your majesty?' I asked, stuttering a little.

'Your hair,' the King said, walking up to me and looking up and down my body.

'Wh-what about it, your highness?' I asked nervously.

'It is a scarlet-blonde,' the King said, as I looked up at him. 'And your eyes are blue, like the waters of the deep.'

I blinked. Where the heck did that come from?

The King looked from me to Dora.

'And you, child,' he said, looking at her.

'Yes, your highness?' Dora asked, looking up at him.

'Your hair and eyes are brown, like the Earth itself,' the King said, looking at her.

'What exactly are you talking about, your majesty?' I asked, looking at him.

This was starting to weird me out. And I'd been pretty weirded out enough today already.

'There is a prophecy,' the Queen said, standing up and walking down and standing in front of me. 'It tells of two girls.'

'One, whose hair and eyes are the colour of the Earth,' the King said, looking at Dora, who stared back at him.

'And another,' the Queen said, smiling at me. 'One, whose hair is scarlet like the early morning sun with eyes as deep as the sea and speaks with words, years beyond her time.'

I blinked.

'They're coming would mark the day when the 4 Kingdoms, separated, long ago, would become one, once more,' the King said, walking to his wife and looking at the two of us.

'Whoa, hold on, a minute!' I said, standing and holding my hands out in front of me, completely forgetting about acting properly in front of royalty. 'You think _we're_ those girls?'

'Yes,' the King said, nodding, not seeming to be bothered about how I'd just spoken to him.

'Sorry to burst your bubble,' I said, closing my eyes and shaking my head. 'But I'm no prophecy girl. Hell, I'm not even a real girl. If it hadn't been for Fairy Godmother screwing up her transportation spell, I'd still be my old boy self, back in _my_ world. So, sorry, but you've got the wrong girl.'

I walked off, leaving the room with a deep silence.

'_Oh, May,_' Dora thought sadly, looking at the door I'd just walked out of.

She found me several minutes later, standing on a balcony, looking out over the Firefly Kingdom.

The sun had set a few minutes ago, so the city shone with lights that would put Los Vegas to shame.

I sighed, looking out at the glowing city below.

'May?'

I looked behind me.

Dora and Boots were standing there, looking at me.

'Hey, guys,' I said, turning back to face the city. 'Nice view, huh?'

'May?' Dora said, walking up to me. 'Why did you get so angry earlier?'

'Because, Dora,' I said, sighing and looking at her. 'That prophecy was talking about two _girls_. We both know that I'm not a real girl. I'm not even from your world. If Fairy Godmother's spell hadn't gone wrong, I'd never have even known this world existed.'

'What do you mean?' Boots asked, frowning.

'I only came here by accident,' I said, looking at him. 'And hearing that prophecy...'

'Yes?' Dora asked, concerned.

'Well,' I said, closing my eyes and sighing again. 'It sounds like that prophecy's saying that it was fate that I accidently ended up in this world. And I don't like it when people talk about things like that.'

'Why?' Boots asked, looking at me.

'I don't like it when it seems like people can't choose for themselves,' I said, shaking my head. 'It's like saying you're obeying someone else's orders all your life.'

Dora and Boots didn't know what to say to that.

'May?'

We all turned around.

The Firefly King and Queen walked towards us, the queen holding something wrapped in a red cloth in her hands.

'Um, I'd like to apologise for the way I spoke to you, you majesty,' I said, bowing to him.

'No,' the King said, shaking his head. 'I would like to apologise, May.'

'Firefly King say what?' I said, copying Miley Stuart's catchphrase from the Hannah Montana TV show. I hadn't done that for a long time. At least 3 years.

'When I saw your eyes, I could see a great strain in your life,' the King said apologetically. 'I shouldn't have simply told you about the prophecy in such a way. I ask for your forgiveness.'

He kneeled down to me.

'Oh, no,' I said, holding my hands in front of me. 'It perfectly fine. There's no need to apologise, your highness.'

'Never the less,' the King said, standing up and nodding to his wife. 'Please, take this as a token of my apology.'

The Queen walked up to me and handed me the object wrapped in the red cloth.

I unwrapped it and stared down in shock.

Wrapped in the cloth had been a large crystal, at least twice the size of my current hands.

It was the Sun Crystal! I'd never seen it before in my life, not that that was a surprise, but I knew that it was the Sun Crystal.

It was easy to tell, because it glowed an orangey-red and yellow, as if a small sun was inside of it.

'But... why are you giving this to me?' I asked, looking from the crystal to the King and Queen.

'I feel, whether you are the girls from the prophecy or not, the Sun Crystal will be much safer with you than if it was left, here in the Kingdom,' the King said, smiling.

'Oh,' I said, not sure what to say. 'Um, thank you. I mean, gracias, your highness.'

I curtseyed to him. I couldn't think of anything else to do.

'You are most welcome,' the King said, smiling. 'Now, the four of you should return to the Crystal Kingdom and find a safe place to hide the Sun Crystal.'

'We will, your majesty,' Dora, Boots and I said together, bowing to the King and Queen.

'Well, let's go,' Lily said, appearing next to the edge of the balcony. 'We've got to make sure we find a good place to hide the crystal.'

Dora, Boots and I flapped our wings and flew off after Lily.

The purple portal out of the Kingdom appeared and we flew into it.

Travelling through the multi-colour tunnel was a lot easier this time. There were any strong winds trying to blow us away.

When we got out of the tunnel, we all landed next to a large bolder in a field of flowers.

'So, what do we do with the Sun Crystal now?' I asked, looking from the crystal to the others.

'How about handing it over, in the name of the King?' a man's voice said.

We all looked around quickly.  
>We were surrounded by men wearing blue solder uniforms with a crown crest on their right shoulders.<p>

'The Greedy King's men,' Lily said, looking around frantically.

They outnumbered us 25 to 4.

'Hand over the Sun Crystal and no one gets hurt,' the man standing in front of me said, holding out his left hand, holding a machete in the other.

'Yeah, right,' I said, glaring at him, hugging the crystal tightly. 'Like I'd believe a bit of that bull shit!'

The man glared at me.

'Take them all!' he yelled at the other men. 'They will rot in the King's dungeons for their defiance!'

'Yeah!' all the other men shouted, holding their machetes in the air.

They surrounded each of us.

As four of them surrounded me, I felt fear creep into me.

I was only in the body of a 5-year-old girl. I didn't stand a chance, fighting off four full-grown men with machetes. Although, a man who draws a blade on a little girl couldn't be much of a man.

'No,' I said as they reach out for me.

'NO!' I shouted at the top of my lungs. Although, it sounded more like I'd sung it.

As the word left my mouth, a large wave of multi-coloured energy burst from within me, sending all four of the men flying into the air and crashing to the ground.

'What?' I said, blinking in surprise, not sure what had just happened.

'Hand it over!'

I looked to my left and jumped backwards as Swiper the Fox tried to grab the Sun Crystal from my arms.

'Swiper?' I said in surprise, staring at him. 'What are you doing?'

'The King hired me to take that crystal from you,' Swiper said, trying to grab the crystal again.

I jumped backwards, dodging him.

'Why?' I said, glaring at him.

'Simple,' Swiper said, trying to grab the crystal again, missing as I dodged him. 'I get to do what I like, swiping other people's things, and I get paid for it.'

'_Man,_' I thought, glaring at Swiper as I avoided him again. '_Who'd have thought Swiper was such a sell-out?_'

I dodged him again, narrowly avoiding him this time.

'_I'd better not look like a real dork, doing this,'_ I thought, glaring at Swiper. '_This is going to be so embarrassing._'

'Swiper, no swiping,' I said, dodging him again.

Swiper kept coming.

'Swiper, no swiping,' I said again, narrowly dodging him.

He kept coming.

'Swiper, no SWIPING!' I shouted, glaring at him.

Swiper stopped and clicked his fingers, frowning.

'Oh, man,' he said, turning around.

'Wow,' I said, relaxing. 'I can't believe that actually worked.'

Swiper grinned, turned around, lunged at me and swiped the Sun Crystal from my arms.

'Huh?' I said, taken by surprise.

'You didn't really think that would work, did you?' Swiper said, grinning. 'Captain, here!'

He tossed the crystal to one of the men.

He caught the crystal in his right hand.

'Good job, Swiper,' he said, nodding. 'Our work is done, men. Back to the Crystal Castle!'

'Yeah!' the other men all shouted, holding their machetes in the air and running of towards the north.

'Swiper!' I yelled angrily, glaring at him as the sound of horses faded away.

'What?' Swiper said, looking at me. 'I was just doing what I do.'

'And, in doing so, doomed this whole world!' I yelled angrily.

'Uh, say what?' Swiper asked, blinking.

'I _so_ don't have time for this,' I said, putting my right hand on my face. 'Dora, Boots, Lily, come on. We've got to get the... crystal... back?'

I looked around.

Dora, Boots and Lily were nowhere to be seen.

'Where the hell are they?' I asked, frowning.

It wasn't like Dora and Boots to run off without telling anyone. I might not be a fan of the show, but I knew that Dora and Boots wouldn't just run off without telling someone. It wasn't in their characters.

'Help!'

I looked around quickly.

That sounded like Dora's backpack.

'Backpack?' I called, cupping my hands to my mouth. 'Where are you?'

'Over here!'

I turned to the trees. Backpack was hanging from a branch, looking battered.

I ran over, jumped up and pulled him down.

'Backpack, what were you doing up there?' I asked, frowning. 'And where are Dora, Boots and Lily?'

Backpack sniffed.

'The King's men took them,' he said, tears leaking from his eyes.

'They did what?' I gasped, turning around and glaring at Swiper.

He flinched. He could tell he wouldn't like me angry.

'Did you get enough money?' I said angrily, marching over to him, strapping Backpack over my shoulders.

'Huh?' Swiper said, looking a little nervous. My being angry can have that effect on people who don't know me.

'I hope it was worth selling out Dora and Boots!' I said, grabbing him by the scruff of fur on his chest.

'What?' Swiper said, looking confused and scared. That wasn't a good combination. But seeing that look on his face gave me some satisfaction.

'While you we trying to swipe the Sun Crystal from me, Dora and Boots were taken away by the King's men,' I said, fire burning in my eyes.

'They were what?' Swiper said, looking shocked.

'I can't believe you'd sell out two of the people who were always nice to you!' I said angrily, dropping him and glaring down at him. 'Even after you'd swiped and stole so many of their things, they still treated you with kindness and what do you do to repay them? By selling them out to a selfish king.'

I started to walk off.

'Wait,' Swiper said, looking at me. 'Where are you going?'

'To save Dora, Boots and Lily,' I said, glaring at him. 'Unlike you, I'm not going to turn my back on them the first chance I get.'

'Wait,' Swiper said, getting up and running after me, stopping in front of me. 'I know the way there. I can help you.'

'And why would I want _your_ help?' I growled at him. 'I'd never trust a lying traitor like you if my life depended on it!'

'I swear, I didn't mean for Dora and Boots to be captured,' Swiper said, shaking his head. 'I'd never do something like that to them. They're my friends.'

'Friends?' I asked, raising my left eyebrow.

Swiper flinched. I looked even scarier when I was angry and raised an eyebrow.

'Well, maybe _friends_ is too strong a word,' he said, looking nervously at me. 'But I want to help.'

'Fine,' I said, walking towards the north, glaring at Swiper as he walked by my left side. 'But if you even put a toe out of line, you'll wish you'd never met me!'

Swiper cowered. He could tell that I meant it and I did. I'd never been so angry in my whole life. If there was ever a time that I'd beat the crap out of someone, it was now.

'How do you plan on saving them, exactly?' Swiper asked as we reached the top of the hill.

I stopped.

He flinched, worried he'd just said something that had mad me even angrier.

'Hmm,' I said, thinking. 'I hadn't thought of that.'

I'd been so angry with Swiper my brain hadn't been thinking very much. That tended to happen whenever I got angry.

'You have the power already.'

Swiper and I looked up.

Fairy Godmother floated down from the sky, landing in front of us.

'You're sending me back, now?' I asked, staring in disbelief.

'Well-' Fairy Godmother began.

'Sorry, but no deal,' I said, holding up my left hand to stop her. 'Now that I know this world exists, I'd never forgive myself if I went back to my world, leaving Dora, Boots and Lily trapped in the King's dungeons, so forget about it.'

'Well, actually,' Fairy Godmother said, looking a little awkward. 'I actually came to tell you I probably won't be able to send you back to your world and turn you back to normal for a couple of weeks.'

'A couple of weeks?' I said, staring at her in shock.

'Maybe months?' she whispered, not meeting my eyes.

I was about to say something, but I stopped, shook my head and sighed.

'I'll worry about that later,' I said firmly, walking passed her. 'Right now, I've got to go save Dora, Boots and Lily from the King's dungeons.'

'But you just said you don't know how you're going to do that,' Swiper called, hurrying after me.

I stopped.

'Oh, yeah,' I said, looking back at Fairy Godmother. 'Um, Fairy Godmother?'

'Yes, dear?' she said, smiling at me.

'Help,' I said weakly.

'Of course, dear,' she said, still smiling. 'But you don't really need my help.'

'I don't wa?' I asked, my face going blank. I hated it when people spoken in riddles.

'You remember when I turned you into a girl?' she asked, floating over to me.

'Well, yeah,' I said, folding my arms, frowning. 'It's kinda hard to forget.'

'Well, when you changed from a boy into a girl, I accidently gave you a special gift,' Fairy Godmother said, smiling.

'Great,' I said sarcastically, holding my hands to the sky. 'What? Did you make it so that I can't grow?'

'Sing,' she said, smiling.

'What?' I said, blinking.

'Sing,' she said simply, still smiling.

'I don't see what you're getting at...' I said, shrugging. 'But...'

I took a deep breath.

'Try something small, first,' she said, smiling. 'Just sing something simple.'

I shook my head. What the hell was she getting at? Back in the real world, I couldn't sing for shit. My family had made a point of telling me that every time I tried.

'Do ray me so, for la te do,' I sang.

I blinked. Had that been _me_ singing? It had sounded so pure and innocent.

I looked at Fairy Godmother, surprise all over my face.

Then current events caught up with me.

'So you gave me a good singing voice,' I said, putting my hands on my hips and frowning. 'So?'

'Sing something specific,' she said kindly. 'Like, how the clouds shine in the sunlight, or something like that.'

'Okay,' I said slowly, still not sure what she was getting at.

I thought for a moment.

'If only I had an ice cream cone,' I sang. It was the only thing that I could think of.

As I sang, brightly glowing multi-coloured energy came from my mouth and surrounded my left hand.

When the glow faded away, a chocolate ice cream cone with sprinkles and a chocolate wafer was in my hand.

'What the-?' I gasped, staring in shock.

'How did you do that?' Swiper asked, staring at the cone in shock himself.

'I have no idea,' I said, shaking my head and looking back at Fairy Godmother.

She nodded.

'That is your gift,' she said, smiling at me. 'Songs come to life when you sing.'

'_That's sounds more like that 13__th__ Note stuff from Freefonix,_' I thought, shaking my head and giving the cone to Swiper.

He'd been staring at it, drooling. So, instead of having the embarrassment of having had something swiped from me by Swiper twice today, I just gave it to him.

'Now, go save your friends,' Fiary Godmother said, smiling at me. 'I know you will do well.'

'Gracias, Fairy Godmother,' I said, turning to Swiper, who'd just swallowed the ice cream cone whole. 'Come on, Swiper. Lead the way.'

Even though I said that, I ran ahead.

'Hey, wait up,' Swiper said, holding his head. 'I've got a major brain freeze.'


End file.
